The United States expects China to commit to buying “several tens of billions” of dollars worth of American agricultural products following a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in Beijing, U.S. Commerce Representative Jamieson Greer said on Friday.
Greer mentioned the agreement for 25 million tons of soybeans per year reached last October and stated that the U.S. also expected to “see from this visit an agreement for purchases of agricultural products totaling tens of billions of dollars per year over the next three years.”
“This is a more general figure. This is not just soybeans, but everything else,” he said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Additionally, President Trump said in an interview aired on Thursday night on Fox News’ “Hannity” show, “China will buy a lot of our agricultural products.”
It was not immediately clear which products would be involved or if soybeans would be part of these “several tens of billions” in purchases, but traders and analysts said they expected the existing commitment regarding soybeans to be part of the deal, which alone would represent over $10 billion.
Soybeans are the top product exported by the U.S. to China, by far the largest global buyer, and these oilseeds have played a key role in trade negotiations during Trump’s first and second terms.
Greer stated that China was meeting its soybean purchase commitments and Washington expected most of the additional purchases to occur later in the year.
“A two-digit number means nothing, but the word ‘later’ signifies that China won’t buy beans from the previous harvest,” said an Asian trader.
In February, Trump had mentioned the possibility of China buying an additional 8 million tons from the just concluded U.S. crop, although traders said such sales were now highly unlikely.
Ahead of the summit, markets did not expect Beijing to raise its soybean purchase target beyond 25 million tons, a view reinforced by comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday, suggesting the existing agreement settled the matter.
Traders are closely monitoring any reduction in tariffs on soybeans, which could allow Chinese private crushers to resume purchases of American soybeans after being virtually shut out of last year’s U.S. crop due to high tariffs. At that time, state grain traders were the only active buyers.
